The History Center in Tompkins County Appoints A New Executive Director

The History Center

401 E. State/MLK Street, Suite 100

Ithaca, NY 14850

The Board of Trustees of The History Center is delighted to announce that Rod Howe will be the new Executive Director starting in 2015.  Rod most recently was the Executive Director of Cornell's Community and Regional Development Institute (CaRDI) and Assistant Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) for Community and Economic Vitality.  Both CaRDI and CCE value the importance of local history in community strategic planning and economic development. 

Rod has a Ph.D. from Boston University in American History (his dissertation, Concerns for the Land in an Upstate New York Community, 1900-1990, was about Lansing) and his previous positions include administration and lecturing at Boston University and various roles with  Cornell Cooperative Extension. Rod is also a board member of Historic Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca, and the NYS Barn Coalition.  His connections to the county go back several generations on both sides of his family and he writes often about land, place, and local history.

"I am thrilled to be joining The History Center team. THC offers multiple venues for engaging with Tompkins County's rich history and for knowing, connecting with and discovering this unique place."

 - Rod Howe

President of THC Board of Trustees, Bill Block, notes "We are very pleased that Rod has chosen to come to The History Center.  His interests and passions along with his proven and versatile leadership skills will take The History Center forward in a thoughtful, exciting, and collaborative way. The Board is looking forward to working with Rod."

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

7pm - 8pm

The History Center

401 E. State/MLK Street, Suite 100

Ithaca, NY 14850

As a musician, he has played with rock and reggae bands, folk and jazz duos, an 18-piece rock opera ensemble and has also appeared numerous times as a solo performer. He has played in the USA, Germany and across the UK, in venues as diverse as Ronnie Scott's jazz club, the Staatstheater Hannover and a go kart track on top of an East German department store. As an engineer, he has recorded everything from choirs to country bands, worked on productions for BBC Radio and Television and done live sound for countless events. 

Light refreshments will be served.

Friday, December 5th, 2014

5pm - 8pm

The History Center

401 E. State/MLK Street, Suite 100

Ithaca, NY 14850

Light refreshments will be served.

Monday, December 8th, 2014

5:30pm - 7pm

The History Center

401 E. State/MLK Street, Suite 100

Ithaca, NY 14850

You are invited to the 2014 Annual Meeting of The History Center. There will be a short business meeting to elect new members of the Board of Trustees and to introduce the new Executive Director, Rod Howe. After this business meeting, we are delighted to present a program by Craig Williams entitled The Erie Canal Comes To New York.

This illustrated talk will explore the what, why, and when of the nearly 200 years of Erie Canal history. Williams recently retired as a senior historian at the New York State Museum in Albany, after more than thirty years of service. At the Museum, he helped lead efforts to document and preserve artifacts from the Willard Psychiatric Center, resulting in the much acclaimed 2004 exhibition "Lost Cases, Recovered Lives - Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic." He coordinated the Museum's curatorial team at the World Trade Center site after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The largest historic artifact that he ever collected was the 1921 canal motorship, the "Day Peckinpaugh." This nearly three-hundred foot long vessel was headed for a scrapyard near Erie, Pennsylvania in 2005. The "Peckinpaugh" has been converted to a mobile gallery for exhibits on the State's waterways. From 1978 to 1983 he was the director of the DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, now The History Center. He was the curator at the Erie Canal Museum from 1976 through 1977.